1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, a system, a control method and a program for image processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multiple tasks relating to document data in an image processing apparatus such as an MFP (Multi-Function Peripheral) are combined to make a series of processes and the series of processes is registered in the image processing apparatus in advance. An application (processing flow application) that can execute the series of processes when a user calls the registered series of processes has been provided. According to this processing flow application, it is possible to execute a frequently-used combination of processes without troublesome operations. In the present description, a combination of multiple tasks to make a series of processes flow is referred to as a processing flow. In addition, a file in which definitions of the processing flow is described is referred to as a processing flow definition file.
A task refers to a process executable for various data such as document data, text data, and image data, and refers mainly to a process executable by an individual function of an image processing apparatus that has multiple functions. Tasks in an image processing apparatus refer to scanning documents, printing document data, transmitting document data (such as e-mails, faxes, files), and storing document data in a disk (saving in a hard disk inside/outside of the image processing apparatus). Note that tasks are not limited to the above-mentioned processes.
An image processing apparatus incorporating a processing flow application holds a processing flow definition file and displays a button for executing a processing flow as a UI (User Interface) based on the processing flow definition file. When this button is pressed by a user, the image processing device analyzes the processing flow definition file and starts execution of the processing flow defined by the processing flow definition file.
In the processing flow definition file, it is possible to designate (define) whether the processing flow is open to the public by indicating “shared” that is shared by users, or “exclusive to a user” that is unique to a user. The image processing apparatus analyzes this definition and controls so that when a user logs in, only a button to execute the processing flow “shared” by users and a button to execute the processing flow “exclusive to a user,” which is unique to the logged-in user, are displayed in the UI.
In the present description, a processing flow “shared” by users is referred to as a shared processing flow. A processing flow “exclusive to a user” is a processing flow exclusively provided to the user and is therefore referred to as an exclusive processing flow. The following is one of the usages of the shared processing flow and the exclusive processing flow.
An administrator designates in advance setting items that a user would frequently use and registers the setting items as a shared processing flow. The user changes set data in a part of the setting items that need to be customized from among the setting items designated in the shared processing flow and registers the changed data as an exclusive processing flow. For example, the user changes the transmission destination of file transmission to the user's own e-mail address. As a result, the user can generate a desired exclusive processing flow by changing some of the set data.
However, there is a problem in operability such that even if a user only changes some of the set data in the above manner, operations are complicated. For example, operations that allow the user to change the transmission destination of the file transmission are as below.
The user opens a top screen of an edit screen of the shared processing flow. Next, the user selects the task to be changed. In this example, a “transmission” task is selected. Next, the setting item of the “transmission” task to be changed is selected. In this example, “e-mail address” is selected. The user then inputs the user's own e-mail address and registers the exclusive processing flow. As described above, the user has to perform many operations to change only a part of the set data.
Meanwhile, in the recent years, a new processing flow application, which handles template definition files of processing flows in addition to the existing processing flows, has been provided. A template definition file of a processing flow includes a definition of which setting items are to be changed in addition to the definition of a processing flow. The template definition file of the processing flow is, for example, preset in a new processing flow application for each use case by the administrator.
In an image processing apparatus incorporating the new processing flow application, a user can generate a processing flow definition file from a template definition file. Upon receiving an instruction to generate a processing flow definition file, the image processing apparatus incorporating the new processing flow application displays only a setting screen of setting items that are designated by the template definition file. As a result, the above-described operations such as selecting tasks to change set data becomes unnecessary, reducing the operation procedures, and therefore operability is improved.
In addition, it is possible to transmit a processing flow definition file from an image processing apparatus incorporating the conventional processing flow application to an image processing apparatus incorporating the new processing flow application.
However, although a processing flow definition file of a shared processing flow prepared by an administrator as it is described above as one of usages of the shared processing flow and the exclusive processing flow is used like a template definition file, the processing flow definition file is not a template definition file. Therefore, even though a new processing flow application is used, a user has to perform the complicated operations as in the past when the user wishes to use an exclusive processing flow by changing the set data of some of setting items in the shared processing flow.
Here, a method for automatically generating a template has been disclosed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-312490). In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-312490, location information of constitution elements are compared for multiple pages, and if it is determined that location information of constitution elements is similar, the layout is made into a template.
A method for generating job template definition information from a user's operation history has been disclosed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-210383). In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-210383, operation history of a user is stored, and job template definition information is generated from the frequency of the operations at certain timing.
The system in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-312490 makes a layout into a template by comparing location information of constitution elements for multiple pages. However, this cannot be applied to generation of a template definition file of a processing flow. The apparatus in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-210383 generates job template definition information from the frequency of operations. However, the job template definition information does not include a definition of which setting items are to be changed as it is defined in the template definition file of the processing flow.